20091001 Our September Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends:

Good morning. It is a windy sunny day today. That is a pleasant change as it has been muggy and hot with intermittent rain since we have returned. The smoking volcano usually drops it’s ash off away from us except when it is booming and shaking the house with its loud explosions and then we end up with ash covering everything.

We have all recovered from the Swine Flu we picked up in Australia in transit to PNG and I am finally over the pneumonia I had. We came back to our house covered in layers of ash, gecko droppings, and some suspicious larger sized scat that I don’t like to think about. After washing the floors, linens, walls and utensils we were able to get things back into place. Both our car and the boat are fine and the internet connection works most of the time now.

By the grace of God all of our luggage made it from Australia to PNG even though it was many pounds overweight largely due to home-school materials. . We did receive a partial “missionary” discount letter from the Air Nuguini office in Australia. However, later when we presented the letter at the check-in counter at the airport we were informed that “who ever gave you this discount didn’t have the authority and it doesn’t mean a thing”. So we prayed and asked God for a miracle. Then, “out of the blue” the lady decided to waive the entire overweight amount. And then, in Port Moresby there were two times where we could have been charged extra due to a flight cancellation, but each time Air Nuguini waived the entire overweight amount. Thank you for praying. It builds our faith to see God helping us in unexpected ways.

Alex has had a difficult time because a few days after we returned the stray dog he loved, named Blackie, was mysteriously poisoned. This dog had save both Alex and I. One day we were walking on the beach and a young man came up to us and held out his hand in which he held a 45 caliber handgun. As he was raising it to us, this old black stray dog just came out of nowhere and stood between us and this armed young man. The man was afraid of the dog and left. We high-tailed it out of there and the dog followed us home. We found out it was indeed a stray and from then on, we would feed it our daily scraps. After that, every time Alex would go for a walk the dog would follow him. When Alex would stop to sit down, the dog would sit down near him watching him. So, it was a painful blow to find out this wonderful dog had been poisoned. Then, about 2 weeks ago Alex was having a lot of itching on his scalp. Many things bite here so we screened him for the usual; lice, fleas, or other crawly vermin but there wasn’t anything. Finally he came to me and begged me to shave his head so I buzzed his hair down to the scalp and underneath his thick brown hair was a widespread maze of raised white itchy fungus. Victor prayed over him and we have been medicating him and washing everything in sight. It is now resolving. If you think of him please pray for him as he has had a rough re-entry.

There were many changes in the East New Britain Foursquare Church just in the few months we were away, but this didn’t surprise us. Before we left for the states, one of my prayer partners Pastor Francisca and I (see picture) had been praying and during one of those prayer times we had received a short vision. Another pastor couple had the very same vision at the same time. It was a map of the area and fires were being set where the Foursquare churches were located. The word “purify" came up and we had the impression that God was in the process of purifying His Church. While I think this is happening globally, it has certainly begun here. It would be easy to get discouraged and sometimes we do, but then we remember that God is at work and we are to continue hearing and obeying.

It is great to be back here to see all of our friends. We have finally adjusted back to the culture. Ministry-wise, we have been visiting the more struggling churches each week so that we can preach and pray for the leaders and congregations (see picture). Victor and the Provincial Supervisor are prayerfully seeking the Lord on how to best mentor the local pastors. Initially, the Holy Spirit is directing us to teach the pastors about Leadership Transformation Groups (LTG’s) and to implement the program. So, at yesterday’s leadership training time with the pastors, Victor taught on “The Leader’s Spirituality” and then broke up the group into twos – men with men and women with women. Each week, for the next three months, the groups will meet to confess sin to one another, to read 25-30 chapters of Scripture during the week, and to pray for the lost.

The medical ministry is also coming along. The Lord continues to give us favor with the government and He continues to bring local nurses to the ministry. For the medical outreach later this month with the U.S. team from Northwest Church, for example, we estimate that at least three nurses from the local “haus-sik” (hospital) will be going with us. The East New Britain Province Community Development office, too, continues to support our work especially the HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis awareness training that the nurses do.

We are so blessed to be with the people again (see picture). We share some of the most precious moments with them. For example, last Sunday we were praying for a Pastor and I felt a little hand on the back of my leg. A toddler was rubbing her hand on my leg and then looking at her hand to see if any of the white was coming off. A chicken laid an egg during the climax of the sermon just a couple of feet outside the open side of the church. There were also some young girls who had this unusual decoration on the collar of her dress. It turned out to be a huge, fat, bright yellow caterpillar that stretched out across my hand with delicate purple striping. The girl was using it as “bilas” (decoration) for her special “meri” dress (see picture). This is so different from the U.S. but after the service one of the elderly ladies that I really liked grabbed me and hugged me with a huge smile and started laughing. Very demonstrative for the usually reserved and careful East New Britain Tolai tribe culture and it was like being with a friend back home. We both love Jesus and that is our common denominator.

Please pray for the following:

1. The national PNG and island-region Foursquare church – the regional and district supervisors especially.
2. The pastors in the East New Britain Province who will be starting their Life Transformation Groups this week. Some of the pastors need emotional healing as well so please join us in praying for them as well (see picture).
3. For the Northwest Church team that is coming to minister with us later this month.
4. For our Medical Ministry Outreach and for the associated Evangelism outreach later this month. We believe that the Lord has shown us the venue but we need confirmation. Pray that many will be saved and healed and that the sharing of the Good News of Jesus Christ will be strongly anointed by the Holy Spirit.
5. For Alex and Nathan, our sons who are two of the most wonderful children in the whole world.

Well, that is it for now. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God.

Expect Great Things From God.

William Carey

20090820 Our August Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends:

Good morning. It is Thursday August 20th 2009 and Victor, Alex and I are currently here in Cairns Australia preparing to leave for the PNG island region, specifically Kokopo Town East New Britain, in the morning. All three of us have been quite ill with the cold and flu and it has been a difficult “welcome back” to this part of the world. In addition to spending some time in prayer, we had hoped to readjust here and take care of some odds and ends before diving back into the PNG culture - but we can not control the circumstances of our lives. God has watched over us and we are on medications and slowly improving.

During our return to the United States a few months ago, there were a lot of things that happened. Victor graduated from school and received his Master of Divinity degree from the King’s Seminary in California. He graduated with honors and was awarded “Top Scholar” which always makes us smile because we know it was the grace of God that he was able to complete the last year of school via the the very sketchy and unpredictable internet in Papua New Guinea. Yet God used what we had - even after being disconnected from the internet multiple times we would pray and ask God to send His angels to keep the connection open – and each time God faithfully helped us. While in the U.S., Victor was also able to take his medical board Ob-Gyn recertification exam and renew his Washington State medical license to keep him medically up to date. Last but not least, while in the U.S. on break Victor studied and sat-in for his Foursquare International Pastor’s license which he acquired on August 7, 2009.

While on break in the U.S., God opened up several opportunities to share how faithful He has been to us. We had many opportunities, both in group and individual settings, to share and it was wonderful to see people drawn to God’s heart for the people of PNG. We saw old friends and met new ones. We visited family when we could and enjoyed Mexican food whenever possible.

We are not sure if we will have internet access when we return to Papua New Guinea, so we wanted to give just a brief update on our progress so far. We have heard that there have been several distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks in PNG that has halted internet service nation-wide and so we wanted to give you all a report just in case we did not have e-mail access for a while.

Thank you to all of you that have encouraged us, prayed for and supported us in numerable ways. Our hearts are touched and we thank you for your care. We will continue to keep in touch with you on a regular basis.

Prayer Needs:

• Complete healing and strength.
• For our re-entry back into PNG, into home-schooling, into the tropical heat, and to be ready and to deal with what we need too.
• Prayer for our travel – especially that all the luggage will make it to our Kokopo Town East New Britain home base.
• Working planes.
• Grace to reconnect with the people at even a deeper level.
• Wisdom to make Godly decisions – to hear and obey what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us.
• Pray for Nathaniel, our son back in the U.S.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things for God
Expect Great Things from God
William Carey

20090417 Our April Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends:


We greet you from Minnesota, USA. A friend of mine asked us if we felt like we were in a washing machine with all the emotions and situations that you deal with returning from another culture but not really fitting into your own. It was a good analogy as I am not sure if we are on wash or rinse but sometimes it does feel like things are spinning.


Victor, Alex and I left PNG after talking to leadership and praying with the Pastor’s there. They understand that we are returning to see family, report back and reconnect with our sending church and family, and that Victor is graduating from Seminary. It was interesting how many Pastor’s came to our home right before we left to visit to receive council and for prayer. We left with their blessing and they know when we are returning. God helped us to secure our current accommodations here in PNG while we are gone so we didn’t have to move our books or supplies.


The ash was so heavy back in PNG that the first few days we were in Australia in transit to the US we were all coughing and Alex was coughing up ash after he would go running. We are very grateful for fresh air! In Australia, we received some books Victor needed for school and Victor took a final examination there. Now, we are in Minnesota visiting my parents and trying not to get lost in the huge grocery stores. Yesterday I went to the Mall of America and just about had a breakdown because there was so much merchandise and everything is so clean and it is like stepping into another world but it is my own culture. We have had actual American food and WOW is it good. I am on a banana hiatus.


We will be in the Pacific Northwest April 25th. Can’t wait to go to church at Northwest Church. We have attended the local Assemblies of God Church here in Minnesota with my parents and it was odd having seats with backs. There was also a noticeable lack of chickens running through the aisles and not a dog in site. And the service was so short. The Pastor was kind to us and invited us to share what God is doing in PNG during the midweek Bible study. It was really nice to be able to tell people I don’t even know that God is faithful and able to use anyone and always helps us and covers us with His grace.


Our schedule is already filling up it seems. We are going to the Foursquare convention in California in May– it will be great to meet the PNG Pastors here in America. Victor is graduating in mid June from the King’s Seminary in Van Nuys, CA and then he is working on fulfilling the requirements to be a International Foursquare Pastor. Victor also is taking his specialty medical board certification examination soon. And we hope to get to Texas to visit his family. Alex is having a wonderful time connecting with friends and I am trying to get all my ducks in a row about home school material that I need to take back to PNG with us.


Prayer needs:

• protection while traveling
• wisdom, guidance and anointing of the Holy Spirit
• divine appointments
• grace to handle situations with the love of God
• softness of heart to hear and respond to God

I wish I could convey to you how grateful we are for your prayers and continued support. I remember one day before Victor and I left for PNG two years ago. We were praying about guidance and wondering how God was going to accomplish the things we felt in our hearts He wanted to do. It all seemed too big especially because of our personal past history. Then I saw a short vision. Victor and I were walking up a road. Ahead of us was a huge field of white as far as you could see and standing at a gate to this field was Jesus in a white robe. We walked up to Him and I heard myself say “What is our assignment?” He smiled and spoke to my heart to “come”. After that, God brought people into our lives and connected us and did the “impossible” to get us to PNG. So, I want to thank you for letting us be a part of your lives and for you being a part of our lives. With Jesus we are a team. We knew we couldn’t do anything without God or support.Looking forward to seeing all of you.

Love,Victor, Lori and Alex


Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon
Attempt Great Things For God.
Expect Great Things From God.
William Carey

20090309 Our March Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends:

Good morning. Sometimes I wish that you could hear the PNG people here praying for you and America. This morning one of the Pastor’s dropped by and we sat on the floor to pray together. She poured out her heart in Tok Pigin and quoted Bible Scriptures so powerfully that my own heart just rose up within me. How great is our God! Though we represent very different cultures and languages and are located on opposite sides of the world, when we pray in unity the Holy Spirit shows up and covers us with peace.

We had told you last month that we were planning to go to the Pomeo area for a medical/evangelistic outreach. After practical research and preparation, we had to put that trip on hold as it would actually take 12 hours to sail via our banana boat in the ocean. That is a very long way and time to be in a little boat on the ocean. The Pastor who wanted to go to this area was unaware of the distance. Here in PNG distance is measured very differently. If someone says a place is not too far, that could mean anything from just up the hill to 12 hours away. So, we are researching more how much diesel we will need for the trip and how the budget ought to look like. In the meantime, our medical outreach this month was held in the highlands of Enga Province PNG as you will read below.

The airport here in Rabaul opened just when Victor needed to fly out to go to the Highlands for the annual Foursquare Pastor’s convention in Goroka in Eastern Highlands Province. This represented a couple miracles as the airport had been closed for weeks due to the volcanic ash fall out. The airlines refused to sell new tickets and the people that held tickets couldn’t use them because of the ash, So, long lines of people wrapped around the Air Niugini building as everyone tried to get their tickets refunded. A couple days before Victor was supposed to go (we had been praying and asking God to help us) the ash changed directions and the airport opened up. Even though the ticket we had was old and weeks past the 24 hour hold – the airlines gave us a ticket at the cheaper fare. Amazing. Then, when it was time for Victor to come back home, God opened up a window and Victor was able to fly back home. The last few days the ash has returned and is covering the plants, cars, and my clean laundry. Alex usually likes to run at dusk along the beach near our house but has been unable to that as the ash gets into his eyes, mouth and lungs.

While Victor was in the PNG Highlands, Alex and I remained here in East New Britain doing home-school. During that time, I spoke to the United Foursquare Women’s Regional meeting on “Walking in the Spirit” to start off the church program for 2009.

In Goroka, Victor spent four days at the National Pastor’s conference (see picture). There, he met Jonathan Hall the overall Missions Coordinator and director at Foursquare Missions International. Pastor Hall and Dr. Jerry Stott preached some powerful sermons that impacted and encouraged all who were present. For example, at the end of one sermon, hundreds of Pastors and leaders went forward to renew their commitment to preach the gospel to all nations. Very powerful. People were spontaneously repenting and worshipping and drawing near to God. After the conference, Victor travelled by bus across several provinces to Enga Province to visit with the PNG Foursquare President, the Reverend Timothy Tipitap. Ps. Timothy had recently dedicated the U.S.K. Kuncumanda sub-Health Centre up in the Tsak mountain region near his home in Wapenamanda and it was now operational. The sub-health centre emphasizes women’s and children’s care. Victor had the opportunity to see many patients (many of them women) and to work with the two staff nurses and two community health workers (see pictures). One lady walked for two days to the health centre because she had heard that there was “a man of God” coming. Ten years ago she had placed a curse on herself to keep from having children and now no matter what she did she couldn’t get the “curse” off. The lady repented for not turning to God for help and cursing herself and then Victor and Ps. Salome (Ps. Timothy’s wife) laid hands on her to break the power of the curse off her in the more powerful name of Jesus. After prayer time, she was told that she no longer had to live with the guilt and shame of that curse – that Jesus had place the curse on Him at Calvary and that God had plans for a future and a hope for her. She left the clinic with peace on her face and a smile on her lips.

Ps. Timothy took this opportunity to share the PNG Foursquare Health vision with Victor. For example, Ps. Timothy shared that he wanted to build a nursing school up at U.S.K. where people from all over PNG, including the islands, can come and be certified as community health workers for the Foursquare Health projects throughout the nation. Later, there are plans for the school to be a nursing college as well.

While Victor was with Ps. Timothy, he also had the opportunity to preach at the Sunday service in Wapenamanda and share at the United Foursquare Men’s Ministry night on Monday. He also had the opportunity to hear Ps. Timothy’s heart for the new four year Bible School that is being built in his home town.

Well, that is our update for now. As most of you know already, we are planning to come back to the U.S. for a furlough for about three months in May-July and then come back to PNG. We are planning to visit family, reconnect with Northwest Church, and attend Victor’s graduation from the King’s Seminary in California. While back in the U.S., Victor will also sit in for the International Foursquare Pastors licensing interview. We are need God’s wisdom and guidance for His plans for us this next year. Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support. We thank you in advance for your continued prayer and financial support during the furlough. Please continue to pray for our protection and for our travel back to the U.S. We look forward to seeing all of you again.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God.

Expect Great Things From God.

William Carey

20090205 Our January Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends:

Hello. As some of you know, we took a short family break in Australia for relaxation, medical care and yes, once again relaxation. The airport here in East New Britain was closed down due to ash fallout from the volcano almost the entire time we were gone (see picture). Then it opened up for a couple days and we flew back and it is once again closed down. The ash covers everything inside and out. You have to clean dishes and utensils before you can began to try to cook or you will end up eating grit. Every time someone comes into or out of the house a trail of black ashy footprints follow them. Nasty stuff. My PNG neighbor, Joanne, surprised me with planting some little blooming flowers in my garden and in front of our house while we were away. I had admired them once in her garden. It meant a lot to me and now I am trying to keep them alive! Everyday, we rinse all the vegetation and wash the car and boat to keep the hot acid ash from burning and killing everything. Please pray for us and the people here. It is a big health concern and without God’s protection asthma and all sorts of lung conditions are only going to continue to increase in this area. The PNG people live their lives outside and it is difficult to see the little children breathing all that sulfuric ash. We are praying that God would have the winds blow it out to sea or just plain put a cork in it. God can do anything.

People often ask us what a typical day looks like so I thought I would describe some things that happened yesterday. We got up in the morning with about 1/2 inch of black ash covering everything. So the first thing was to rinse off everything before the hot tropical sun baked it into place. Then at breakfast a Pastor came over and stayed about 4 hours. Meanwhile a young PNG girl came with her rake and asked if she could rake my back yard. I knew her Mom was having back pain so the little girl and I made a deal that if she raked my lawn I would give her some pain medicine for her Mom. She was smiling a big smile as she shook my hand on the deal. Then laundry was done but hung inside for minimum ash infiltration. It is so hot here that even inside our house all of the laundry dries in 2 hours. Sort of a natural built in dryer of sorts. During all this Alex is doing school and Victor is writing a term paper. Then I accidently cut my finger on a can while cooking, Victor prays over it, and the wound closes up without stitches. All of this before 1pm. We are busy like you- just in different ways.

We have started the preparation for community entry on the next medical/evangelistic outreach. It is an area that the Pastor’s have a heart for and the home village of one of the PNG nurses (Jenny) who helps us on the outreaches. Jenny’s dad has been dreaming of a Foursquare church plant in the area for some time. We will go by banana boat as it is 5 hours down the coast in the Pomeo district on the east side of our island of East New Britain. This area lacks medical care due to the isolation and difficulty of traveling there. We are very excited to have the Pastors take the lead in choosing the area as this is an answer to prayer for the people to take ownership of the ministry. We will be going on the “community-entry” visit next week.

Also at the end of February, the annual national Foursquare Pastors meeting is held in Goroka and Victor is planning to attend and then travel to Enga Province with Pastor Timothy Tipitap for a week to work in his clinic in the remote area of USK. Alex and I will stay here in East New Britain as Alex is back in school and it is easier for one to travel in the Highlands (see picture). Of course, that is all subject to our island airport opening up. It has been closed for four out of the last five weeks – yes, that is right, we are “land-locked.” To leave here now, we would have to take a boat to New Ireland and fly to Port Moresby and then out of the country.

Finally, we remain busy with Leadership Training. Victor is teaching the pastors about home churches and home-church based congregations. Next up, will be a series of teaching on the process of crisis intervention (see picture). We are also on the newly formed Foursquare East New Britain Province operational Board. We are helping the Province to set up an operations manual for the churches.

That is it for now. Please pray that our volcano will settle down and for the airport to open up again. We also need prayer coverage for the upcoming trip to Goroka and for the community-entry boat trip next week. We will be hugging the coastline the whole way and won’t have to do a big open seas crossing, but we are praying for calm seas nevertheless. We thank you very much for your support. One last thing is that Alex’s arm that was broken still doesn’t not have full range of motion - please mention this before our Father.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God.
Expect Great Things From God.
William Carey

20081230 Our December Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends:

 

It is almost the year 2009 – hard to believe.  We wanted to touch base with you before the new year and tell you about some important things that happened in the month of December. We also wanted to share some of the highlights for the year.

 

We have had the privilege to encourage three young people that are sensing God’s call to be missionaries. One is a single woman and the other is a married couple who pastors one of the Foursquare churches in the area. Their names are Doreen and Pastors John and Margreth (see pictures). These are the first Foursquare PNG nationals that we know of here that are preparing for cross-cultural ministry through missions training and Bible study. Victor was asked to speak at their graduation from missions training and he gave them their certificates during the ceremony. It has been nice to share with them our experiences and what to expect and plan for. We are encouraging them to submit to leadership and open their hearts to the other Foursquare pastors in the area so that they will have prayer coverage and the blessings of all those involved. We are also helping them with other practical matters such as budgeting, helping them with their testimony, and networking.

 

We had a great medical and evangelism outreach earlier this month. We had actually planned to do a medical and evangelism outreach to Feni Island which is on the other (east) side of New Ireland. We were all ready to sail there, but we didn’t have peace and did not feel released by the Holy Spirit to go. As it turns out, a tsunami (the people here call it a “king tide”) wave turned up and flooded the whole region we were planning to go to. Thankfully, the tsunami wave spared our Foursquare Churches in the area. We praise God for His protection and guidance.

 

Our “plan B” this month was to minister at Raniolo village, which is a poor remote settlement in an old plantation here in East New Britain. For the last few months especially, the Kokopo Town Foursquare Church has been ministering to the area which has been plagued with crime and disease for some time now. We gladly obliged when we were asked to minister there. People from all over Papua New Guinea live there – most of them used to work the plantation and after it closed down they continued to live there. One lady who gave her heart to Jesus during an earlier Kokopo Town outreach was persecuted there for becoming a Christian. Her husband was so displeased that he took all her clothes and burned them so she “couldn’t go to church.” The ladies of Kokopo church lovingly responded by providing her with clothing and she continues to follow Jesus.

 

Most of the Kokopo Town Foursquare Church were present with us for the outreach and we began in the usual way with worship, a Gospel message, and prayer. Joanne, a PNG nurse from the local “haus-sik” (hospital) who regularly comes with us on the outreaches, joined us again and did HIV/AIDS Awareness teaching. Together with Victor, Joanne saw over 300 patients. Alex and I ran the pharmacy (see pictures). Many people were quite ill. Two babies in particular still stand out in my mind. One was so dehydrated that she no longer teared when she cried and she was barely wetting her diaper.  She was malnourished and honestly dying.  We had the pastors and women of the church gather round her and lay hands on her and pray for healing.  We gave rehydration medicine and vitamins and pleaded with the Momma to take her to the hospital.  It was difficult to go on to the next person as you just wanted to weep.

 

We had obtained a bale of used clothing from Australia from a Australian friend of ours and we were able to bring the children’s clothes to the outreach and the women of the church handed them all out. The teenagers from the church used the last of the colorful beads we had to make little bracelets for the children. We also had water containers to distribute and the kids had fun blowing the bubbles we gave them. There isn’t any water in the area and many children are covered from head to toe with a thick white skin fungus that is difficult to get rid of. We gave out 1000 tablets for fungal infections. Thinking back over all the outreaches we have had this last year- this area had the most children with skin fungus that we have seen.  One young girl who was 19 years old had “elephantitis” (that is what the people here call it) of her left leg (see picture for those interested in medical conditions). This tropical disease is from a mosquito bite that spreads a parasite which attacks the lymph nodes and blood vessels and is also very painful and difficult to cure. Joanne and Victor and Alex and I and the Kokopo Town church “mommas” prayed over this young girl for her healing.  It was so nice to have strong support from the “mommas” this time – some of them even dressed sores for some time. What we sensed was a real ownership of the outreach by the Town Church – just the way it was supposed to be.

 

With the end of the year 2008 at hand, we now review some of the highlights of the ministry here in the PNG islands region:

 

·         We had 10 monthly medical/ evangelistic outreaches.  Two new churches have started in two very remote areas after a couple of outreaches and they are continuing to grow and mature.  There is another fellowship that is growing and may very well be a new church plant soon.

·         We continue to see God heal people in the ministry on a regular basis.  He has shown Himself strong as Healer in our own lives as well. Just a week ago, I ( Lori) was in great pain in my right side that made me huddle on the floor but after Victor and I prayed (I admit to begging a little) for wisdom God showed us what to do and within 24 hours I was alright.  This is a serious concern as we would have had to fly to Australia for surgery if God hadn’t intervened.

·         We have especially seen God as Reconciler this year. He has used us to bring about reconciliation throughout the PNG Islands Foursquare Church. God has helped us to counsel marriages and bring many people together that had previously been on bad terms and at odds with one another. This is an ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit here and doors continue to open for us to minister in this area.

·         We continue to do Leadership Training for the pastors. Victor uses his Seminary training quite a bit in this area and will even do PowerPoint presentations using a generator. The sessions are well attended and received. We also continue to work with key leaders here in the area especially in the area of vision planning, goal-setting, and all kinds of administration. We are also advisors to the PNG Island Bible School Board here. All key Foursquare national, regional, provincial, district, and local-level people now understand the Bible School vision and there has been much better dialog between all involved . The new Foursquare Regional Supervisor here has taken charge of the vision and is working closely with the National Executive Committee (NEC) who has committed to sending us a Principal so that the Bible School can formally open in February 2010.

·         We continue to see God as Protector and Guide. He kept us out of harm’s way many times and this included protecting us from a tsunami wave. God also protected Alex and I as we were walking along the beach a few months ago. A young man approached us and pointed a 45 cal handgun towards us. Thankfully, a homeless dog that had been following us ran between the man and us and this sacred off the man. Many times the Holy Spirit will whisper to me and guide me to make a cake for someone who is sure to be stopping by the house, and sure enough the person stops by the house and we have a sweet time of fellowship. The Lord often makes a way for us to see key people at key times even though we have had difficulty contacting them previously.

 

Well, these are just a few of the examples of how faithful God has been to us day to day. We also know how critical your faithfulness has been as well. We thank you for your financial and prayer support, even in the midst of all that is going on in the world now. Please pray that God will give us wisdom for the coming new year. We have some important decisions to make. Thank you for the love and concern that you show for your for Brothers and Sisters in Christ here especially - you may not meet them here on earth but you will be sure to dine with them in heaven when we have Supper with Jesus before long.

 

Happy New Year and may God abundantly bless you in the year 2010.

 

Blessings,

 

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

    Attempt Great Things For God.

         Expect Great Things From God.

                 William Carey

20081121 Our November Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

 

What a busy time this has been.  One of the highlights this past month was ministering with the Northwest Church team in the Duke of York Islands region here in Papua New Guinea. We sailed in our own banana boat from Kokopo Town to Mioko Island which is a small island in the region. As usual, we combined our daytime medical outreaches with evening evangelism services. The pastors here were very encouraged with the response at the outreach. We must acknowledge the four people that came as a team from our sending church in the U.S. – Mary Schell, Becca Schell, Desiree White, and Kile Rury (see pictures). They were such troopers and together we endured many “third-world” hardships including intense tropical heat, lack of electricity, invasion of geckoes, rats, pit toilets, outside showers,  swollen limbs, and lack of sleep to name a few.  There was a strong sense of spiritual opposition and darkness when we were there and one couldn’t help but notice the hopelessness in the people’s faces. We thank God that we could bring the light of the Gospel and hope to them. Our best estimate and our statistics show that we saw over 700 people in the two days that we were there. Our PNG nurses had the opportunity to do HIV/AIDS awareness teaching and general hygiene and dental hygiene teaching. We have heard many good things since leaving the Duke of York Islands. There were many same day healings from malaria, musculoskeletal pain, and upper respiratory infections, just to name a few.

 

As noted above, the small island in the Duke of York island region where we ministered is called Mioko Island.  When we moved from the village into town earlier this year we did so primarily because we needed a dependable water source.  We sensed that God was really clear about where we were supposed to live, so we moved there. The PNG caretakers of the place where we now live are our neighbors.  They are Benjamin and Joanna and their four children. Whenever we have extra food, God will often direct us to go give it to this family.  As it turns out, this family originally came from Mioko Island. And when we went as a team to Mioko, we discovered that it was Joanna’s uncle’s house that we stayed in. And so, God provided a bridge of love for us to the island through this family.

 

The Duke of York islands are a very dark area spiritually and many practice a syncretistic mix of witchcraft along with some nominal Christian religious practices. Our medical and evangelism outreach was the first time that a Pentecostal church was allowed to come into the region. During the time we were at the outreach, we noticed that there were two funeral services held. One was for a young child and the other for an old man. Our pastors took the opportunity to visit the mourning families and present the Gospel to them in a loving and caring way.  Traditionally, those that are in mourning couldn’t come to the evangelism outreach so God opened a way for them to be ministered to in a very personal way.  Only God could orchestrate something so meaningful as this in their culture. When our banana boat left Mioko after the outreach, we sensed the pleasure of God as we encountered several pods of dolphins on the way back.  

 

In addition to the medical outreach, the U.S. team also ministered with us in several other venues – a two-day women’s meeting, a youth service, a men’s prayer service, and a water baptism service. At the water baptism service , the team for Northwest Church participated in the service where over 100 people were baptized.  It was a special time for us as Alex had asked us to baptize him. Pastor Labette, one of the pioneering pastors in the area, brought Alex out to the ocean to be baptized and he witnessed his confession of faith (see picture).

 

Alex recently broke his left arm. He was playing at the beach jumping from one log to the other and fell. We splinted and iced down the arm right away but it was obviously broken and so the next day we went to the “haus sik” (hospital). Thankfully, there was power and water and we were able to confirm the “greenstick” fracture by X-Ray. Before we could view the X-Ray, though, the film had to be hung outside on a bush behind the hospital to dry. Alex is now sporting a heavy plaster cast. He is doing well now, but suffers because of the heat and itching underneath the cast (see picture).

 

We send out a big thank you to all who sent us cards, soaps, candy, Costco’s “trailmix”, and all the wonderful things that arrived along with the team from Northwest Church.  It was amazing how much the team could bring besides the medical supplies we needed. It was overwhelming to be given so much. 

 

Victor and I continue to be involved in reconciliation work both between villages and within marriages.  This has been an unexpected ministry.  Anyone who knows  our  personal and marriage history would be as amazed at this as we are.  But God is clear that in our weakness He can shine out and be strong if we will do what He wants.  We are very dependent on the Holy Spirit.  Just yesterday, we returned from an hour trip into the bush to talk and pray with the Pastors and leaders of a remote church along with our Provincial Foursquare Pastor.  It is very humbling to be in a hard packed dirt floored bush church that doesn’t have electricity or running water - the thin walls of the building are made of peeled bamboo strips - holding hands with the Pastor and leaders as they repent and ask for God’s wisdom and help.

 

We realize that there is a lot going on in the states.  Markets are doing all sorts of things and people have lost jobs and homes.  We thank you so much for being faithful in your prayers and giving in the midst of all of this. Please know that we are praying for you and your families. We wanted to encourage you that your support does indeed go towards real people with real stories. One Pastor that we have been encouraging and teaching is Pastor Willy (see picture). He is full of the Holy Spirit and has been pastoring a new church plant that arose out of one of our medical and evangelism outreaches. His church started with two elderly women.  Then, at our outreach many people responded to the Gospel including many children. As a result, Pastor Willy has over 50 children in Sunday school.  Pastor Willy recently asked God to help him fill a need in his community. The Lord showed him that he was to begin digging pit toilets (these are deep wide holes in the ground that take a lot of manual labor in the heat here) for his community. The people have been so touched that he would do this for them. He has dug over twenty pit toilets so far, and so people frequently ask him, “Why do you continue to you do this?” and he replies, “I want you to know how much Jesus loves you.” God has a unique calling for this young man who loves the Lord very much.  Please pray for him. He is ready and willing to go to Bible School. In fact, he was accepted to business school but instead chose to follow his call to full-time ministry. He is also young and single who wants to be married and so please pray for a godly wife. Pray also that the Lord will give him a deeper understanding of how to live out his faith before people who tend to dismiss him due to his young age.  This is just one of the personal stories here that you are a part of. Thank you for letting us represent you.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

 

Blessings,

 

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

    Attempt Great Things For God.

         Expect Great Things From God.

                 William Carey